"Say, Laura. It's been a while since Shena left..."
Yana looked at her friend with worry. Laura had been staring at the place where her granddaughter was last seen for quite some time. Some stalls were already packing their supplies, reading to close shop for the night. The marketplace wasn't very big so she could see most of the stalls at first glance. There were fewer people too which would make it easy for her to spot the child but she was nowhere in sight.
"But I don't think anything would have happened to her." Yana quickly said, "You know that's impossible! It's a small village so we know everyone and there's no crime doesn't ever happen here. I'm sure she just got distracted playing with some other kids and ran off."
It was true that committing a crime there was unheard of. You would get caught immediately either by a witness or with the help of someone's magical abilities. Still, there was something peculiar about Shena's lateness which made both Yana and Laura feel strongly uneasy.
"Let's look for her." Yana said, grabbing Laura's arm and pulling her out of her daze. "I'll look around the marketplace and you go look at places nearby. She has to be here somewhere."
Laura nodded and the two split up. Yana started her search around the market- asking everyone she saw if they had seen Shena while Laura headed for the forest at the edge of the marketplace. There were some children playing around, giggling and drawing stick figures on the soil.
"Children." Laura said, "Have you seen Shena around?"
One boy looked up and shook his head. Laura remembered him playing with Shena on a few occasions. "She's not here."
"Then do you know where she could be?"
"Maybe in the forest?" A girl piped up. "She said she was looking for the legendary hero."
"Legendary hero?"
"You don't know, granny Laura?" The boy from before looked at her puzzled. "Everyone knows that if the legendary hero lives here then he must be in the forest!"
"Yeah! Shena kept talking about him so I told her that story!" Another child said and the other two nodded in affirmation.
Laura's eyes widened. Without waiting another second, she ran into the forest. There was no doubt that Shena had gone inside. She must have heard the story and actually believed it. Laura should have told her that there's no way he could have lived there or should have gone looking for her earlier. Even if nobody would harm her, there were many dangers in the forest and she could have hurt herself somewhere.
Laura looked carefully at the ground for footsteps and at all the bushes. Some of the bushes were disturbed so she followed them until she could narrow done her search area. She had been searching for fifteen minutes and the forest was now pitch black. Just as she was about to look somewhere else, she heard it- Shena's laughter.
"Shena!" She followed the sounds, shouting her name. The path she was taking seemed unfamiliar. It was a place they didn't go to often as the soil there wasn't good and there was very little vegetation but she remembered there being more trees. Yet she could see a clearing in the distance. When did that get there?
As she finally reached the clearing, she pulled aside the tall shrubbery blocking her line of sight and froze. She could see Shena. Her granddaughter's legs were scrapped and bleeding- she must have gotten hurt somewhere as Laura had feared. But more shocking than that was the fact that Shena was being carried by a man- someone that she had never seen before.
He was young judging by his face and also tall. He was dressed in dark clothes and wore thick boots. He had a satchel which he draped across his shoulder and messy black hair that made it look like he just woke up.
"Shena..."
Her granddaughter turned around, noticing her at last and then shouting in excitement. "Grandma!" She pointed at Laura and the young man's eyes turned to finally look at her. That was when it finally hit her. There was something about him that bothered her but now she was finally able to place it- it wasn't that she had never seen him before or that he looked completely at home in the middle of the forest but the fact that she had seen someone identical to him fifty years ago.
"You..."
"You must be her grandmother." The man said with a smile. "She fell down from a tree and hurt her leg a while ago. Don't worry, the injury is only on the surface."
Laura was speechless. She instinctively walked over to the young man to take her granddaughter but Shena was holding onto him with a death grip. "No!" She screamed as Laura tried to get her to come with her.
"I know he's the hero! You can't fool me!"
"I'm really sorry." Laura said apologetically as Shena buried her face in the man's shoulder. He didn't seem to mind and laughed good-naturedly. "She's been calling me that for a while now. I tried telling her that she's got the wrong person but she won't listen."
'Then who are you?' Laura was on the verge of saying but kept it to herself for the time being. "If you don't mind, can you carry her back to the village? It's close by but it's not a very short walk either..."
"That's fine with me." The man said easily. "Lead the way."
And so Laura began the walk back with her grandchild and a stranger in tow. Luckily, she could mull over her thoughts as she walked since Shena was constantly asking the man all kinds of questions. Occasionally, Laura would listen in on their conversation to get a hint about the man's identity but he expertly dodged all the incriminating questions. He also kept refuting the idea that he was 'him'. Shena didn't seem to believe him but based on his attitude and expressions- she felt like he wasn't lying. If he really was 'him' then he had either lost his memory or was a masterclass actor.
She was determined to figure it out soon and aligning with her thoughts, she could see her house coming into view. She would definitely get to the bottom of whatever was happening before the night ended.